LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
I'm saying you can just put Flora Suns and some 3000k Agromax bulbs together and call it a day. I'm growing bigger use that way. Just keep the fixture super close to the canopy and keep the canopy open wide and level.


Period.
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
And I'll go one even further than that. I don't even think you need the FloraSuns! I think the 4100k Philips Bulbs from Home Depot used in a fixture at 30% to 70% Agromax 3000's and you will be set.
 

infinitalus

Active Member
Since theyre commercial bulbs Im assuming theres no SPD? I looked around on google for a bit and didnt come up with anything. Right now my canopy is 8-10" away from the tops. A little heat stress is OK but Im not trying to damage the colas growth when they are just baby buds. Also, some of my indicas are still growing at 1" or so a day. Wish theyd quit that...
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
Since theyre commercial bulbs Im assuming theres no SPD? I looked around on google for a bit and didnt come up with anything. Right now my canopy is 8-10" away from the tops. A little heat stress is OK but Im not trying to damage the colas growth when they are just baby buds. Also, some of my indicas are still growing at 1" or so a day. Wish theyd quit that...
At 8-1o" away be prepared for very fluffy airy buds. I keep my light 1" off the highest bud. Which is typically no more than 2-3" higher than the rest.


Yiu will not burn plants at 3-4" away
 

infinitalus

Active Member
At 8-1o" away be prepared for very fluffy airy buds. I keep my light 1" off the highest bud. Which is typically no more than 2-3" higher than the rest.


Yiu will not burn plants at 3-4" away
Can you show me a pic of this please?

edit: actually, this makes sense if you are using CO2. Plants can take up to 90 degrees of ambient temperature with CO2. T5 lamps operate at 95 degrees or so. I have that clip on fan at the end of my reflector so that should help move air along the way. I suppose I should drop it then.
 

infinitalus

Active Member
So I was surprised today when I went to look at my girls I saw amazing sight this is a bud on my lemon skunk it is only 4 weeks into flower as of yesterday only useing 4 bulbs (2 flora suns 1 coral wave 1 3000k) this should prove you don't need a bunch of top dollar bulbs cost me $28 and got a bud like this

https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/general-marijuana-growing/2126545d1334698501-pedros-2nd-grow-img_20120417_163320.jpg
4 weeks eh? thats not bad. My baby buds dont look too bad either at 2 weeks. The calyxes look quite plump already.

edit: where did you find flora suns and the coral wave for so cheap?
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
Can you show me a pic of this please?

edit: actually, this makes sense if you are using CO2. Plants can take up to 90 degrees of ambient temperature with CO2. T5 lamps operate at 95 degrees or so. I have that clip on fan at the end of my reflector so that should help move air along the way. I suppose I should drop it then.
Take a look at my plants. Browse my Lucas Formula thread. My plants are at 5 weeks
 

48martin

Well-Known Member
Take a look at my plants. Browse my Lucas Formula thread. My plants are at 5 weeks
I get them 2 - 4 inches with no heat issues for the most part. (occasional leaf tip burnt due to growth)
These lights do not have great penetration or a huge footprint. That is why many Scrog or do extreme LSTing.

-48
 

pedro420

Active Member
4 weeks eh? thats not bad. My baby buds dont look too bad either at 2 weeks. The calyxes look quite plump already.

edit: where did you find flora suns and the coral wave for so cheap?
The pet store in my town has them and they were haveing a sale and I got them went to get more a few days later but they wasn't haveing the sale anymore
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
Im with LV, you dont need to spend $20 per bulb!!! The only one I will (veeeery reluctantly due to quality issues) is the RedSun and when available the 660. Otherwise, the WavePoint BlueWave and AquaticLife 420/460 both completely cover the full Blue spectrum, and for the Red/flowering spectrum, a combo of one or two CoralWaves for Blue and IR, then the rest FloraSuns (with a RS or two if ya want to spend$ for it)

LV if you're going for the best absolute cheapo blend, I think you might get abit tighter nugs with (1) FloraSun and (1) 6500k. 6500k's are more efficient PAR-wise since 3000k bloom bulbs put out alot of wasted Yellow/Orange where the 6500k have more PAR Blue, which will reduce stretching vs yellow/orange which causes stretching. They may grow a little slower and it may take a bit longer to switch into full flowering, but I think the Grow/FS may yield more in the end... just my thought on it. It'd be an interesting comparison (... anyone ever heard of someone flowering with 6500k's only?)

Anyway, since the RedSuns took a shit on a bunch of us, Ive been using 1 CoralWave to 3 FloraSuns and have been more than happy!


5weeks (3/12) since switch to 12/12
DSC02779.jpg
DSC02787.jpgDSC02786.jpg


Switched 2/27 - 7weeks
DSC02783.jpg

3/17, exactly 4weeks since flip
DSC02780.jpg DSC02784.jpg
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
Although I dont know about ditching the FloraSuns LV... nothing on the market that I know of has as much 630-660 and is cheap as dirt but good quality, Ill take em all day over ANY comercial bulb.

And the AquaticLife Marine Purple 460/620's... junk. Next to a Pure Actinic, they only appear slightly whiter and not so pure blue like the actinic. BARELY ANY red/orange in he graph (The SPD shows its only a tiny 610 spike anyway, not even 620) but I was curious and got two... I may use them in veg, but they're nothing to brag about.
 

infinitalus

Active Member
I cant wait for the ultra grow lamps to come out. I wouldnt mind paying $20 for those but I hope theyll be cheaper :)

Ive got trich heads forming all over the place on my sativas, looking real good xD

UCC, you have a LOT of T5s rolling in your room bro! Nice! Im a get a bunch of those T8 fixtures from walmart and use em for side lighting. Better light spread than the Radiions youre using I think, just a bigger mess of electrical cords since they cant be daisy chained :P
 

pedro420

Active Member
I'm gonna stock with my flora sun and coral waves mixed untill there is a good 660 bulb available then I will see what happins
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
I cant wait for the ultra grow lamps to come out. I wouldnt mind paying $20 for those but I hope theyll be cheaper :)

Ive got trich heads forming all over the place on my sativas, looking real good xD

UCC, you have a LOT of T5s rolling in your room bro! Nice! Im a get a bunch of those T8 fixtures from walmart and use em for side lighting. Better light spread than the Radiions youre using I think, just a bigger mess of electrical cords since they cant be daisy chained :P
They're gonna look just like FloraSuns, only they're Chinese made... take it for what it is. I have several WavePoint bulbs and havent had a problem with any, and I do plan to get an UltraGrowth or two just to compare, but look at the SPD for each, they're practically the same except WavePoint exagerates the vertical axis and makes them look "more intense". but compare the height of the peaks within their own graph, they both have relatively equal levels of red to blue and at the same wavelengths. ZooMed is proven quality German made bulbs, where WavePoint are Chinese, and are both around the same pricepoint (I wouldnt imagine the UltraGrowth's would be much more than their other bulbs, prob in the $10-13 range) my point is just dont look to the WavePoint bulb to be the savior. I dont like UVL for their pricepoint or the RedSun fiasco, but from what ive seen, the 660 has a very pure deep Magenta hue and I dont see much else, I think it very may well surprise the doubters, and I would be suprised if it had more than a tiny bit of blue/green in it and likely is a pretty pure spike in the 660 range (I havent seen the SPD but I think Ive become quite skilled in being able to pick out different hues and it looks pretty good to me, I cant recall a solo single bulb pic but next to the RedSuns it looked just as pure but deeper, not even pink like a FloraSun (my RedSun's look Red alone, but orange next to my FloraSun's since the FS's actually have a deeper red to them although not as intense and also blended with a tiny bit of B/G to reach that nice pink) I like WavePoint for their BlueWave to cover blues in Veg since its a good cheap bulb, and the CoralWave for Blues in flowering with IR. otherwise even with the UltraGrowth I still think Ill only use the BW and CW, I love my FloraSuns guys. I have some 2ft Red Suns coming from HelloLights tho, we'll see how it goes this time (still out of 54w)
 

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
wow i was about to reorder the same setup i started with but you just talked me straight. i think i will get the flora sun, 6 of them. fuck it. ill flower with them once i get my 4 bulb fixture put back together(blew bulbs ballasts OK!), i think a hps and some florasuns and a some uv bulbs might make some brain damage bud.
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
They're gonna look just like FloraSuns, only they're Chinese made... take it for what it is. I have several WavePoint bulbs and havent had a problem with any, and I do plan to get an UltraGrowth or two just to compare, but look at the SPD for each, they're practically the same except WavePoint exagerates the vertical axis and makes them look "more intense". but compare the height of the peaks within their own graph, they both have relatively equal levels of red to blue and at the same wavelengths. ZooMed is proven quality German made bulbs, where WavePoint are Chinese, and are both around the same pricepoint (I wouldnt imagine the UltraGrowth's would be much more than their other bulbs, prob in the $10-13 range) my point is just dont look to the WavePoint bulb to be the savior. I dont like UVL for their pricepoint or the RedSun fiasco, but from what ive seen, the 660 has a very pure deep Magenta hue and I dont see much else, I think it very may well surprise the doubters, and I would be suprised if it had more than a tiny bit of blue/green in it and likely is a pretty pure spike in the 660 range (I havent seen the SPD but I think Ive become quite skilled in being able to pick out different hues and it looks pretty good to me, I cant recall a solo single bulb pic but next to the RedSuns it looked just as pure but deeper, not even pink like a FloraSun (my RedSun's look Red alone, but orange next to my FloraSun's since the FS's actually have a deeper red to them although not as intense and also blended with a tiny bit of B/G to reach that nice pink) I like WavePoint for their BlueWave to cover blues in Veg since its a good cheap bulb, and the CoralWave for Blues in flowering with IR. otherwise even with the UltraGrowth I still think Ill only use the BW and CW, I love my FloraSuns guys. I have some 2ft Red Suns coming from HelloLights tho, we'll see how it goes this time (still out of 54w)
You confused me here. You said Florasuns are Chinese in the first sentence and then said ZooMed is German made quality. Florasuns are Zoomed last I checked.
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
Im with LV, you dont need to spend $20 per bulb!!! The only one I will (veeeery reluctantly due to quality issues) is the RedSun and when available the 660. Otherwise, the WavePoint BlueWave and AquaticLife 420/460 both completely cover the full Blue spectrum, and for the Red/flowering spectrum, a combo of one or two CoralWaves for Blue and IR, then the rest FloraSuns (with a RS or two if ya want to spend$ for it)

LV if you're going for the best absolute cheapo blend, I think you might get abit tighter nugs with (1) FloraSun and (1) 6500k. 6500k's are more efficient PAR-wise since 3000k bloom bulbs put out alot of wasted Yellow/Orange where the 6500k have more PAR Blue, which will reduce stretching vs yellow/orange which causes stretching. They may grow a little slower and it may take a bit longer to switch into full flowering, but I think the Grow/FS may yield more in the end... just my thought on it. It'd be an interesting comparison (... anyone ever heard of someone flowering with 6500k's only?)

Anyway, since the RedSuns took a shit on a bunch of us, Ive been using 1 CoralWave to 3 FloraSuns and have been more than happy!


5weeks (3/12) since switch to 12/12
View attachment 2127142
View attachment 2127137View attachment 2127138


Switched 2/27 - 7weeks
View attachment 2127139

3/17, exactly 4weeks since flip
View attachment 2127140 View attachment 2127141
As great as those buds look the point ive been speaking about is proven here. the point of diminishing returns. This is more electricity being pulled here by these bulbs than by 1 quality 600 watt HPS and a 400hps together. Which would probably yield a bit more if placed barebulb in that same grow area 4-5" from the plants.

Im gonna run a couple more grow with the T5's but then probably switching back to HPS and running vertically hung 600's. 4 of them for 12 plants. Rather than 32 T5's over 18 like im doing now in that room. My HPS room is currently 2 1000"s over 12 plants. That consistently gets me 3.5lbs yield for my patients.
 

AltarNation

Well-Known Member
Really depends on what your needs are I guess... I like the quality that I get from T5's and I like not having to finick with heat control as much. I also like the less-threatening nature of a T5 malfunction versus a HID bulb blowing up or whatever. Since I'm growing for personal use, I find the T5's an efficient method overall and the quality of the buds is pretty supreme. To each their own though... if I was growing for patients and I needed weight, I might very well go for something else as well.

Also, if you check the context of Undercover's post, he said "They're gonna look just like FloraSuns, only they're Chinese made..." as in, what he is comparing to the flora suns is chinese made... ie, the wavepoints... can see how the context could be confusing though.
 
Top